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Weaponry
Weaponry Tier 0 Chemical Ballistics Post Count: 10 | Prerequisites: None Conventional Chemical Weaponry that’s been in use for centuries. Rocketry Post Count: 10 | Prerequisites: None Conventional missile and rocket weaponry that’s been in use for centuries Infrared Lasers Post Count: 10 | Prerequisites: None What amounts to an oversized laboratory laser, they are hardly considered a weapon without massive amounts of power to use. Tier 1 Railguns Post Count: 15 | Prerequisites: None Railguns are something that’s been around for a while, but limited in deployment due to bulk and power demand. Finally with a bit of miniaturization and optimization they are viable in the field. Optimized Propellants Post Count: 15 | Prerequisites: Rocketry Some solid and hypergolic rocket propellants, though unsuitable for use as the primary means of propulsion in most starships, are well-suited for use as missile reaction mass. This improves missile acceleration and, thus, effective range. Vacuum Optimized Lasers Post Count: 15 | Prerequisites: Infrared Lasers Optimization of the laser systems has provided a substantial increase in the power; Where previously they could be mistaken for a laser pointer they are now a viable weapon. (3e-7 m wavelength) Gauss Weapons Post Count: 15 | Prerequisites: None Gauss Weapons are a simpler cousin of railguns, working off the principles of a coil rifle. Though weaker than a comparable railgun they are easier to work with and can fire a larger variety of ammunition. Energized Particle Cannons Post Count: 15 | Prerequisites: None The EPC is a bastard offspring between a conventional and energy weapons. Iron or other heavy metals are used as ammunition for the weapon, held as dense clouds of particles in canisters for both storage and as part of the firing system. The firing process involves a sudden and rapid energy charge to be introduce to the canister, which is promptly fired down an accelerator system. The canister upon hitting the end of the accelerator system is consumed by the energetic reaction inside the canister, collapsing to fire a dense and highly energized bolt of metallic particles. The particle burst is dense but will quickly disperse, this effect giving the shots a 'lifespan' of about 45 seconds before losing energy. Where the weapon shines is in its constant effectiveness, being reliable against shields and armor; although presently its impact value is almost a fourth less than Rail weapons. Initial velocity is roughly 15km/s. Tier 2 Gen II Warheads Post Count: 20 | Prerequisites: Rocketry In space, the normal explosive warheads used by rockets become drastically inefficient unless they breach a ship’s hull; new warhead development though takes a step back, reclaiming nuclear theories to create new thermal based warheads. (Adds 25% to gained missile tonnage per point.) Enhanced Tracking Post Count: 20 | Prerequisites: Railguns OR Gauss Weapons In space the normal rules of ballistics that many a soldier faced no longer apply, targets are often far enough that enhanced tracking had to be developed to reliably hit anything. Unfortunately this can't solve the problem of drunk gunners. Improved Frequency Post Count: 20 | Prerequisites: Vacuum Optimized Lasers Minor improvements to the lasers have resulted in a much more refined frequency, operating with a wavelength of 2e-7 m. Particle Beams Post Count: 20 | Prerequisites: Magnetic Envelope Projection Charged particle weaponry, formerly found only in science-fiction, have moved out of the laboratory and are now feasible enough to mount on combat spacecraft. They are very energy intensive weapons, requiring large amounts of power to operate and having extended firing sequences. The practical use of them is the sheer damage they are capable of inflicting compared to lasers, especially at longer ranges. Plasma Beams Post Count: 25 | Prerequisites: Magnetic Envelop Projection Generating and directing a giant beam of plasma is a crude yet effective weapon. The Plasma generators and projection systems of these simple emitters are able to be scaled with relative ease, giving a staggeringly large boost to power of the weapon emplacement with size. the base systems only able to support 50 kilometers without modification, every 5cm of scale added to the projector gives another 2.5km of reach to the projection equipment. Unfortunately, the complex cooling and projection equipment is too bulky to be miniaturized for strike craft mounting, leaving beam weapons as the exclusive realm of full scale warships. A temperature of only 3,700 degrees Kelvin may be sustained. Gen II Gauss Post Count: 20 | Prerequisites: Gauss Weapons Compression of the coils, while a very crude method, still grants enhanced power to the gauss weapons. Further still, due to modifications to the coils the change in velocity is more gradual allowing more delicate payloads to be fired, as long as they still fit in the shell that is. The weapons projectile does see its maximum velocity increased. Staged Charge Chambers Post Count: 20 | Prerequisites: Energized Particle Cannons The first upgrade of the EPC weapons, improvements to the charge systems mean the weapon system is able to charge multiple shots at a time. The overall result of these improvements in staging the charge process has improved to overall fire rate, although the bulk of the changes being the groundwork for later upgrades. Early Trials have shown the weapon shows roughly a 25% improved fire rate over Rail weapons. Tier 3 Gen II Railguns Post Count: 20 | Prerequisites: Railguns Railguns, following their recent deployment, now see improvements in the velocity of their rounds. Higher velocities lending themselves to better range and damage. Outside of this, though, not much has improved yet, but the groundwork is in place for further developments. Missile Evasion Upgrades Post Count: 20 | Prerequisites: Rocketry Unlike what one would think, this is not a development to dodge debris so much as a development of the missiles to detect and evade incoming point defense fire, enabling a better chance for missiles to get through defensive fire and strike their targets. Plasma Pulse Weapons Post Count: 20 | Prerequisites: Plasma Beams The otherwise crude but powerful plasma beams of before have been redesigned into a far easier to manage form. Using new emitters that operate in short successive blasts to lob semi-condensed plasma projectiles down range. they have been lovingly named "Blappers" by the scientists due to the distinct sound of firing. The standard range for these first generation "Blappers" or blasters is approximately 75 kilometers with every additional 10cm of caliber adding enough containment equipment to boost the range another 5km. The reduced emitter requirements permit strikecraft to make use of them. Refined focusing array Post Count: 40 | Prerequisites: Improved Frequency With advanced design in the focusing array, lasers are now on a much smaller wavelength, lending itself to even further damage (1e-7 m wavelength) Energy Weapon Cycler Post Count: 25 | Prerequisites: Vacuum Optimized Lasers OR Particle Beams Energy Weapons are often inefficient; the addition of specifically designed cycles allows reclamation of previously wasted energy, the energy is than fed back into the weapon to increase the power of the weapon. These same cycles also function to ramp the energy of the weapon, enabling higher power to begin with. (Lasers are now 25MW a point / Particle Beams are now 343.75MJ a point) Specialty Payloads Post Count: 25 | Prerequisites: Gen II Gauss Due to the nature of Gauss weapons, they are able to fire payloads that would normally be impossible for a railgun. As such the new rounds developed allow a variety of payloads to be loaded, though it was discovered rather unfortunately that explosive payloads would often by detonated by the charged coils during firing. This of course didn't prevent scientists from discovering ways to fit various signal emitters into the payloads, along with finding ways to potentially transport more robust equipment to a target via such methods. Generation II Energized Particle Cannons Post Count: 25 | Prerequisites: Energized Particle Cannons Adjustments to the design of the EPC system has enabled it far better responsiveness in combat situations, Minimizing the charge up time and enhancing the velocity the weapons fire at. Many of these changes are minor, but drastically improve its capability to hit moving targets, giving rounds a velocity of roughly 20km/s, but reducing their lifespan to roughly 40 seconds. Tier 4 Zero-G Loading Mechanisms Post Count: 30 | Prerequisites: N/A Taking advantage of the Zero-G nature of space, loading mechanisms have been specifically designed and modified such to use Zero-G to the fullest advantage. The result is drastically increased reloading speeds for projectile based weaponry at the minor cost of weakening magazine protection. For Railguns this provides significant advantages, being able to modify barrel designs to allow direct radiating to surrounding space, reducing thermal issues from rapid fire. Smart Munitions Post Count: 30 | Prerequisites: N/A Smart munitions are a fairly classic idea, taking what would normally be just a simple dumb projectile, and giving it some form of intelligence and way to guide itself. For railguns this is of limited use in a Vacuum, as no modifications can be made. For Gauss and Conventional weapons this is an attached stage, capable of very limited trust for course correction, usually no more then a few meters to turn a near miss into a hit, or a glancing hit into a direct hit. Generation II Particle Beams Post Count: 30 | Prerequisites: Particle Beams Incorporating a series of refinements into the original particle weapon designs, the original accelerator system was vastly simplified. Further improvements into the efficiency of the system as a whole has led to drastically reduced power requirements, roughly half of that required before. Neutron Beam Post Count: 30 | Prerequisites: Particle Beam A side development of the particle beam, offering more range and being more difficult to deflect (both as a result of its neutral charge), but loses most of its crew-killing capability. Gen III Warheads Post count: 35 | Prerequisites: Gen II Warheads An entirely new design of warheads, revolving around utilizing a specialized nuclear charge to create an extremely high intensity though short range thermal blast. (Adds 50% to gained missile tonnage per point.) Gen II Lasers Post Count: 30 | Prerequisites: Refined Focusing Array Developing an entirely new class of lasers from the ground up, these lasers are able to function on a significantly smaller wavelength due to new methods of beam generation. Allowing them to keep a much tighter beam at distance, as such a lens is roughly 25% more effective then normal. Advanced Plasma Projectors Post Count: 35 | Prerequisites: Any Plasma Weapon Plasma weapons are an enormously powerful weapons system, capable of doing unrivaled damage to their targets - assuming they're in range. This range limitation is nearly prohibitive for their usage, being a hard limit after which the plasma scatters into space harmlessly - this technology improves on the projection system design as a whole, increasing the baseline range for blasters by 50km, and 25km for beam projection systems. Optimized Accelerator Cells Post Count: 30 | Prerequisites: Staged Charge Chambers Enhancements to the original Accelerator designs of the EPC weapon has provided much improved fire rates, this combined with alterations in the power relays has also meant the weapon has seen almost no increase in its power usage. Testing has shown that its fire rate is roughly 50% above Rail and Gauss weapons. Tier 5 Advanced Missile Designs Post Count: 35 | Prerequisites: Rocketry Advancements in missile designs now enable armored missiles, up to armor rating 2. The armoring of a missile unfortunately reduces the maneuverability, lending them more to torpedo’s than missiles. Advanced Weapon Capacitors Post Count: 35 | Prerequisites: Laser Energy Cycles Creating a deliberate power leak, the excess power is cycled into capacitors which during firing are fed into the main weapon. This increases strain on the weapon, but provides a notable improvement in power output. (Lasers are now 30MW per point / Particle Beams are now 412.5MJ per point) Gen III Gauss Post Count: 40 | Prerequisites: Inertial Dampening, Specialty Payloads Minor improvements increase maximum projectile velocity and inertial dampening is integrated into weapon system. Improvements to the design of specialty rounds for gauss weaponry has resulted in increased hardening to electromagnetic radiation, enabling basic explosive payloads to be added along with more unusual payloads. (Gains warhead tonnage equal to 0.25x points spent) Gen III Railguns Post Count: 40 | Prerequisites: Gen II Railguns Now railguns have finally gotten a much needed overhaul. With significant changes in the charge rails and shell design, railguns are able to deliver a truly incredible punch. Shields now have more to worry about as the shells fired carry a minor energy charge capable of causing an EMP effect upon striking shields. While too small to affect a starship, it greatly improves the damage done against shielding. Advanced Projectile Alloys Post Count: 35 | Prerequisites: Generation II Energized Particle Cannons The EPC presents an interesting challenge in projectile design for many, as such improvements to it now allow for specialized projectiles that can improve velocity slightly. As such its velocity is in some ways superior to that of a Railgun, a side effect of this is that the blasts lifespan has suffered; Velocity is roughly 25km/s with a lifespan of 35 seconds. Tier 6 Plasma Heating Methods Post Count: 40 | Prerequisites: Plasma Pulse Weapons Improvements in plasma creation and control methods, as well as more heat resistant materials used in the construction of the plasma weapons, allows for it to reach temperatures of 5,200 degrees Kelvin. This dramatically increases its destructive power. Gen IV Warheads Post Count: 45 | Prerequisites: Gen III Warheads Changes in the creation of warheads has enabled the shaping of the warheads at a much smaller scale, resulting in the ability to make more direct use of the explosive material at hand. this in turn has resulted in a vastly more powerful warhead. (Adds 75% to gained missile tonnage per point.) Lancers Post Count: 45 | Prerequisites: Advanced Weapon Capacitors Lancers are a specialized form of emitter for energy weapons, trading off lens focusing support for more raw power in the weapon. The trade as such has created something of a divide, rendering lasers less efficient when used in such a manner but notably improving particle beams. (Allows use of Lancers) Accelerated Charge Integration Post Count: 40 | Prerequisites: Optimized Accelerator Cells Redesigning the Charge and Accelerator systems to be integrated components has reduced the amount of power needed per shot, additional energy from the previous shot can be reclaimed and used in the firing sequence. The chief comparison of this being that the EPC system was found to be firing roughly 75% faster then comparable Rail weapons. Advanced Turret Design Post Count: 50 | Prerequisites: Zero-G Loading Mechanisms, Simulated Artificial Gravity A critical advancement in the design of turrets, both internal and external, allows significantly improved armoring. This is achieved by combining various types of Zero-G engineering with Artificial Gravity engineering, in the same turret. (Double armor gained per point for turrets) Tier 7 Advanced Shell Design Post Count: 45 | Prerequisites: Gen III Gauss Changes in the design of the shells enable a much larger payload than before, though this comes at the cost of velocity. While the shells have lost effectiveness against shields, they are still quite powerful against armor and hulls. (warhead tonnage now 0.5x points spent) Shield Cracker Rounds Post Count: 45 | Prerequisites: Gen III Railguns These new Railgun shells are specificly designed to cause the maximal amount of damage to shields. When fired, the shell itself generates a charge within the head of the shell. Upon impact, this creates a shaped electromagnetic effect against the shield, causing vastly more strain on the shield than before. Integrated Accelerator Reactor Post Count: 45 | Prerequisites: Advanced Weapon Capacitors Changes to the reactor feed have integrated micro reactor feeds into the energy accelerators for energy weapons, enabling a faster and more powerful charge to be accumulated. While making weapons far more energy intensive its still a rather powerful upgrade. (Lasers are now 35MW per point / Particle Beams are now 481.25MJ per point) Torpedo Design Post Count: 45 | Prerequisites: Advanced Missile Design These missiles have completely forgone mobility for the creation of a true space "torpedo". Heavily armored against point defense systems, these monsters can be a nightmare for those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end. (Up to Armor rating 4 on missiles) Particle Focusing Lens Post Count: 45 | Prerequisites: Advanced Projectile Alloys The addition of a specialized focusing lens system at the end of the accelerator channel has allowed the weapon to be focused for even better velocity, providing very short time to target for shots fired. The EPC has taken on a velocity of roughly 30km/s, the lifespan of the rounds before disappating is barely 30 seconds. Gen IV Railguns Post Count: 45 | Prerequisites: Gen III Railguns to come, Railguns up to 22.5km/s Gen IV Gauss Post Count: 45 | Prerequisites: Gen III Gauss to come, Gauss up to 17.5km/s Tier 8 Hot Cell Plasma Weapons Post Count: 50 | Prerequisites: Plasma Heating Methods, Forcefields These rather complicated shells bring something entirely new to plasma weapons. They bring the ability to jump start plasma generation, completely bypassing the normal power surge required for initial plasma generation. This results in significantly higher rate of fire for plasma weaponry, at the cost of having somewhat unstable "Plasma Cells" on board. Disruption Shells Post Count: 50 | Prerequisites: Shield Cracker Rounds Another series of new shells that is a bane to shielding. The specifically designed shell generates a charge as its fired. Once it reaches target the charge forms a miniature barrier and strikes the shield first. This is in turn is shaped by the shell into a very small and high power point. In some cases the shell is able to weaken the shield just enough to pass through, losing considerable momentum in doing so. Gen V Warheads Post Count: 55 | Prerequisites: Gen IV Warheads, Basic Nanites The end in warhead development, these warheads are assembled on such a small scale that nanites are required for the manufacturing. Shaped down at the molecular level these warheads use the maximum potential of the warhead material. (Adds 100% to gained missile tonnage per point.) Generation III Energized Particle Cannons Tier 8 | Post Count: 50 | Prerequisites: Particle Focusing Lens, Accelerated Charge Integration Rolling several advancements together, a new generation of EPC's has seen a notable improvement in fire rate and velocity of the weapon systems. While groundwork was laid for future upgrades, EPC weaponry appears to be nearing its peak. Extensive study has revealed its fire rate to be roughly twice that of Rail weapons. Tier 9 Energy Compression Cycles Post Count: 55 | Prerequisites: Integrated Accelerator Reactor Changes in the design of the energy accelerator now enable the energy contained within to be compressed into a new wavelength as its charging, enabling significantly more power to be cycled into the laser at the same time. Unfortunately this wavelength is lost during firing, along with having the side effect of drastically increasing wear on focusing systems. (Lasers are now 40MW per point / Particle beams are now 550MJ per point) Probability Matrix Targeting Computer Post Count: 60 | Prerequisites: Quad-Phase QEC. Combining AI integrated gunnery systems with an extremely advanced Quantum Computer has resulted in a terrifying targeting computer, This operates with a speed and accuracy rather impossible to defeat by a living person. A primary advantage is being able to extend the effective targeting range of weapons notably, although the weapons limitations are still a factor to consider. Ablative Case Torpedo Design Post Count: 60 | Prerequisites: Torpedo Design The Ablative case design for missiles or torpedo is a somewhat novel yet practical approach to the defense of missiles. Where a missile may normally be destroyed by its armor being breached, this rather simplistic if awkward design to the armor casing partly negates that. Just prior to an impact from point defense weapons, it will attempt to 'eject' it's armor casing as a protective shield. This can in some cases negate the hit to the missile, although it is without saying that the system isn't perfect due to being prone to being fooled, sometimes even ejecting against hits that normally wouldn't destroy the missile. (Optional, Declare if a missile system is equipped with this or not) Gen V Railguns Post Count: 60 | Prerequisites: Gen IV Railguns to come, Railguns up to 25km/s Gen V Gauss Post Count: 60 | Prerequisites: Gen IV Gauss to come, Gauss up to 20km/s Tier 10 Two Stage Warheads Post Count: 100 | Prerequisites: Gen V Warheads OR Advanced Shell Design, Gen II Fabricator Nanites These new warheads are extremely hard to manufacture, taking considerable time and effort to fabricate in any volume as nanites are used to weave two separate explosives into a single device. The practical benefits are significantly more powerful explosives, roughly 50% heavier then what could otherwise be manufactured; However, the warheads make the weapons extremely volatile, as mishandling, let alone direct impacts to the launcher, could result in the warheads detonating prematurely. (Optional, declare if a system is equipped with these warheads or not. Increases yield by 50%, Launchers are considered having 1/4th armor) Ghost Shells Post Count: 100 | Prerequisites: Disruption Shells, Hard Light Concepts Specialized warheads created from a combination of hard light theories and preexisting applications of disruption shells. The act of firing creates a charge along the shell that is shaped into a piercing cap, forming an extremely powerful ion field along the tip of the shell and giving it a 'ghostly' appearance. Against heavily shielded targets these rounds are devastatingly effective, while against light shielding they have the potential to pierce through; However, the specialized shape and materials of the shells render them somewhat ineffective against armor. Quantum Cell Energy Weapons Post Count: 80 | Prerequisites: Quantum Capacitor, Energy Compression Cycles Quantum capacitors can store phenomenal amounts of energy, yet for energy weapons the trouble is often the residual heat left after a firing sequence, Thus engineers have created specialized Quantum Cells. These devices allow a weapon designed for handling them to quickly displace large amounts of heat into the capacitor, the principle advantage being to enable continuous activation lasers to be mounted on vessels that otherwise would be incapable of handling the heat generated. The added advantage of these capacitors is the ability to rapidly convert that heat to energy, even at a loss this has been seen to reduce the energy demand for weapons by up to 25%. Category:Tech Tree